Report: Obama Handed Out $434 Million in Fraudulent Obamacare Payments

A new report finds that the Obama administration handed out $435 million in fraudulent Obamacare payments meaning that once again we see that fraud was Barack Obama’s middle name.

The Obama administration was one of the most crooked and corrupt in U.S. history, so it isn’t surprising we are still learning just how bad he was. It is likely we’ll be finding things like this for decades to come as the full criminal scope of his eight disastrous years in office come to light.

The Obama administration improperly paid out $434 million to Obamacare customers to pay down the cost of insurance in 2014, the first year the law’s health insurance marketplaces went online, a federal watchdog reported Monday.

Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General released a report Monday that outlined the improper payments during Obamacare’s first year.

In a review of 140 health insurance policies sold in 2014, the inspector general found that Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services improperly paid out financial assistance payments for 26 policies.

Well, isn’t that just peachy?

So, why haven’t we seen a full repeal of Obamacare? After all, isn’t that what Trump and may Republicans promised us in 2016?

Well, you can partly thank party traitor John McCain for that failure.

For instance, in June, with the support of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the Trump administration’s Department of Labor finalized a rule permitting sole proprietors, employees of small businesses, and small business owners with a “commonality of interest”—such as living in the same state or working in the same industry—to join together to purchase association health plans. AHPs allow thousands of people to buy insurance as a large group and across state lines, dramatically increasing health insurance options. These plans also lower costs for those in an association because they can negotiate prices as a group in the same way large employers can. Further, these plans don’t allow people to be denied coverage or forced to pay higher prices because of a preexisting condition, protecting those with health problems from the possibility of losing coverage or having to pay significantly more than other members of an association.

Additionally, earlier in August, the Trump administration changed federal rules governing the length of short-term health insurance plans, increasing their maximum period from three months to 12 months and allowing these plans to be renewed for up to 36 months. Short-term plans are great options for many young Americans and healthy adults who don’t receive coverage through a parent or employer and don’t have enough money to purchase an expensive Obamacare plan. Short-term plans often cost much less than $200 per month, more than half of what many mid-level Obamacare insurance plans cost. The reason they are cheaper is because they are exempt from many of the Affordable Care Act’s costliest mandates, including “essential health benefits” like alcohol and substance abuse coverage and maternity care, and because insurance companies can choose not to renew the plan once its period expires.

Still, the GOP and the Trump administration have gone a long way to gut Obamacare — mercifully — despite Juan McLame’s petulant attempt to derail the Trump agenda.

About the author

Warner Todd Huston

Warner Todd Huston has been writing editorials and news since 2001 but started his writing career penning articles about U.S. history back in the early 1990s. Huston has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and several local Chicago News programs to discuss the issues of the day. Additionally, he is a regular guest on radio programs from coast to coast. Huston has also been a Breitbart News contributor since 2009. Warner works out of the Chicago area, a place he calls a "target rich environment" for political news.

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